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Journalist issues apology for bad Mass Effect review

Dean Takahashi of the Mercury News, at the behest of a pack of angry fans, issued an apology for his negative review of Mass Effect on Tuesday. Citing his lack of understanding of the talent development system, Takahashi retracted his criticism of the game and has instead adopted a rosier perspective on BioWare's epic Xbox 360 RPG.

I owe an apology to you for writing a bad review. I also apologize to BioWare, which made a better game than I thought, and gulp, to Microsoft. The game play is not as flawed as I thought. I’ll leave the earlier review up for everyone to ridicule as they like, but I’ll add some new thoughts here that acknowledge the mistakes in it. My new take should help gamers who might make the same mistakes.

Takahashi continued to discuss at length the deeper mysteries of Mass Effect and how, once revealed to him, the game became a much more enjoyable experience. Ars Technica's own Frank Caron had his own issues with the game, including Mass Effect's character development system. I myself wasn't aware that you could target your ally's abilities until mid-game, turning the first half of my experience into a brutally difficult test of patience.

Admitting one's own mistakes is fine, but is it so unforgivable to expect that a game explain its key systems as explicitly as possible? In-game tutorials or small nudges to help the player gain an understanding of gameplay mechanics have become standard in console gaming, often rendering manuals unnecessary. Dean may have made some mistakes in reviewing Mass Effect, but BioWare made bigger ones in its creation.